Hi all,
First of all, this is not about using SQLite as an embedded library from C,
or whatever other language. It does not affect the sqlite3.c file at all.
It only applies to the shell (so logically, it only affects shell.c)
So here’s my suggestion for what (I feel) is a significant improvement for
the SHELL version of SQLite without being too much of a programming
complication in my view. (Those who usually attack any new concept, please
pause a moment and give it some thought, then attack as usual!)
Because I primarily use SQLite as a tool (from the shell), and given that
SQLite does not (yet, if ever) support stored procedures, I often find
myself (as I believe most people on this list) writing scripts that will do
a certain task, and then run those using the shell with something like
“sqlite3 my.db < script.sql”
I think we can all agree that the single most important advantage of SQLite
is the one-file-holds-everything deal (both for the database file, and for
the application or library file). On that principle,...
The problem with having all those scripts separate from the database file
somehow violate the previous assertion. Plus, there is the problem that
scripts cannot be made to have parameters (AFAIK).
So, two birds with one stone, ...
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have those scripts somehow saved in the
sqlite_master table (or some other new system table, if this one would cause
compatibility issues), and then be able to call them very easily from the
shell with some special prefix (e.g., :SCRIPTNAME parm1 parm2 parm3 ... – or
some similar simple syntax). The : character could be some other special
character (except for . used for built in commands.)
Then the shell, using the simplest of macro expansion techniques of plain
text replacement, would read each line from the saved script, convert
occurrence of the each parameter to the text appearing in the invocation and
run it as if it was just typed on the keyboard.
For example, if my script was:
SELECT ~1~ from ~2~ where name like (‘%~3~%’);
giving the shell command:
:SCRIPTNAME * my_table some_name
would be executed as:
SELECT * from my_table where name like (‘%some_name%’);
I have used ~number~ as a parameter placeholder, but anything that works
without ambiguities in the grammar would work.
And, then the next line of the script would be executing in a similar manner
until the whole script is exhausted.
This capability would make the shell capable of supporting very complex
script-based command-line applications all stored within the same single
database file!
Thanks for listening (hopefully).
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